Apparatus for feeding cigarettes

ABSTRACT

CONVEYING APPARATUS FOR CIGARETTES, ESPECIALLY TIPPED CIGARETTES, HAVING AN EXPANSIBLE RESERVOIR THROUGH WHICH THE CIGARETTES ARE CONVEYED IN A CONTINUOUS STACK BY MEAN OF CONVEYOR BELTS AND ROLLERS BETWEEN WHICH THE STACK IS CONFINED AND HAVING A HORIZONTAL CONVEYOR FEEDING THE CIGARETTES INTO THE RESERVOIR AND A PAIR OF ROLLERS RESTING ON THE CIGARETTES ON THE HORIZONTAL CONVEYOR AND ARRANGED TO PUSH THEM INTO THE RESERVOIR AND PACK AGAINST A CEILING OF THE RESERVIOR TO REDUCE THE RISK OF JAMMING. ADDITIONALLY THE ROLLERS SENSE VARIATIONS IN THE FLOW RATE WHICH ARE USED TO CONTROL THE CAPACITY OF THE RESERVOIR.

P 20, 1971 A. K; MCOMBIE APPARATUS FOR FEEDING CIGARETTES Original FiledSept. 30, 1965 3 Sheets-Shut 1 P 1971 A. K. M COMBIE 3,605,988

I APPARATUS FOR FEEDING CIGARETTES Original Filed Sept. 30, 1965 3Sheets-Shut 2 Sept. 20, 1971 MCCOMBIE 3,605,988

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING CIGARETTES Original Filed Sept. 30, 1965 3Snail-Shut 5 w ax w JIM/#73 United States Patent 3,605,988 APPARATUS FORFEEDING CIGARETTES Alan Keith McCombie, London, England, assignor to TheMolins Organisation Limited, London, England Continuation of applicationSer. No. 685,995, Nov. 7, 1967, which is a continuation of applicationSer. No. 491,672, Sept. 30, 1965, which in turn is acontinuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 319,846, Oct. 29, 1963.Application Ser. No. 547,702, Apr. 11, 1966, being a continuation ofsaid application Ser. No. 319,846. This application Aug. 28, 1969, Ser.No. 854,028 Claims priority, application9G;2at Britain, Nov. 1, 1962,

2 The portion of the term of the patent subsequent to Jan. 10, 1984, hasbeen disclaimed Int. Cl. B65g /22, 43/08 US. Cl. 19837 5 Claims ABSTRACTOF THE DISCLOSURE Conveying apparatus for cigarettes, especially tippedcigarettes, having an expansible reservoir through which the cigarettesare conveyed in a continuous stack by means of conveyor belts androllers between which the stack is confined and having a horizontalconveyor feeding the cigarettes into the reservoir and a pair of rollersresting on the cigarettes on the horizontal conveyor and arranged topush them into the reservoir and pack against a ceiling of the reservoirto reduce the risk of jamming. Additionally the rollers sense variationsin the flow rate which are used to control the capacity of thereservoir.

This application is a continuation of my copending application Ser. No.685,995, filed Nov. 7, \1967, now abandoned, which in turn is acontinuation of my copending application Ser. No. 491,672, filed Sept.30, 1965, now abandoned, which in turn is in fact a continuation-in-partof my copending application Ser. No. 319,846, filed Oct. 29, 1963, nowabandoned. M'y application Ser. No. 547,702, filed Apr. 11, 1966, is acontinuation of said application Ser. No. 319,846 and matured into US.Pat. No. 3,2979138, issued Jan. 10; 1967.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to conveyor apparatusfor rodlike articles, for example cigarettes, which apparatus moves thearticles in parallel alignment in a continuous stack.

Such apparatus is disclosed in US. Pat. No. 3,297,138 where its use inconveying cigarettes from cigarettemaking machines to cigarette-packingmachines is described.

This apparatus includes a reservoir into and out of which the cigarettesare moved in a continuous stack, and which provides means ofaccommodating the fluctuations in operating rates which occur betweenthe making and the packing machines.

In this apparatus certain problems occur in handling the cigarettes.'For example tipped cigarettes have a marked tendency to cross and jam.

It is an object of the present invention to provide conveyor apparatuswhich is of particular use in handling cigarettes, especially tippedcigarettes.

Apparatus in accordance with the invention will now be described by wayof example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation,

FIG. 2 is a sectional view on the line I-I,

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of an alternative arrangement, on a difierentscale,

FIG. 4 is a section on the line IV-IV, FIG. 3, and

FIG. 5 is an overall view of reservoir apparatus in which the apparatusof FIGS. 1 to 4 may be incorporated.

The apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 may form part of an apparatus suchas is illustrated in FIG. 5, which corresponds to FIG. 4 of the drawingsaccompanying the above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,297,138. Brieflyexpressed the reservoir apparatus shown in FIG. 5 comprises upper andlower parallel elongated compartments 142 and 143, an endless bandconveyor 171 having an upper run forming the base of the uppercompartment 142 and a lower run forming the top of the lowercompertinent 143, and a concave movable backplate 147 forming a movableend wall of the reservoir. It will be seen that this arrangement forms aloop-shaped configuration comprising parallel links (namely the upperand lower compartments 142 and 143) joined by a cross-link definedpartly by the movable backplate 147. The cigarettes enter the uppercompartment through an inlet 112, passing underneath a pivoted detector185 and pass from there between conveyors 179 and 180 and into the uppercompartment 142. From there they pass between the backplate 147 and theroller over which the endless band 171 passes and into the lowercompartment 143. Finally, the cigarettes are delivered from thereservoir after passing through an outlet defined by a conveyor band andband 171. The backplate and roller can be moved to and fro to increaseor decrease the capacitfi of the reservoir depending upon the relativerates of supply and withdrawal of cigarettes to and from the reservoir.

The apparatus according to either of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 to4 of the present drawings is intended to be located at the entrance tothe upper compartment of the reservoir, and may be considered asreplacing the apparatus comprising the bands 179 and 180 and detectorshown in FIG. 5.

Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2, an endless conveyor band 1 receivescigarettes C, e.g. from a number of cigarette-making machines, andconveys them as a moving pile, which may be several cigarettes deep,towards the right in FIG. 1. The band 1 passes about a roller 2, betweena pair of opposed cleaning elements 3, and between driving rollers 4 and5. On its upper run the band 1 is supported by plates 6 and 7.

To the right of the band roller 2 is a drum 8 arranged to rotate in thedirection shown by the arrow at a speed which is varied from time totime as will be described later. A bridge 9 extends from the band 1 tothe surface of the drum 8.

A concave plate 10 carried on supports 11 extends almost halfway aboutthe drum 8, and forms a back support for an endless band 12 which runsover the inside curve of the plate and returns over rollers 13, 14, 1'5,16, 17 and -18, the last-named being a drive roller, and 19. The plate10 which serves as a stationary end wall is spaced a suitable distancefrom the drum 8 to permit a desired depth of cigarettes to beaccommodated between the band 12 and drum 8.

The band 12 is driven at a speed suitably in excess of the peripheralspeed of the drum 8 to carry the cigarettes C around the drum withoutrelative displacement.

Extending beneath the plate 10 and band 12, and also beneath the drum 8and the band 1, is an endless band 20, driven by rollers 21 and 22. Thisband 20 corresponds to the band 171 in FIG. 5 and forms the base of theupper compartment of the cigarette reservoir. If the speed of this bandis altered, the back plate 147 forming the end of the reservoir is movedin one direction or the other so as to alter the capacity of thereservoir. In the present case, such speed changes are effected bychanging the speed of the drive roller 21.

A short wedge-shaped bridge 23 extends from the band 12, as it passesover the roller 13, to the band 20.

As stated above, the part of the band shown at the bottom of FIG. 1forms the base of the upper compartment of the reservoir, The top ofthis upper compartment is defined by a plate 24.

Side plates 25 and 26 confine the cigarettes laterally at the entranceto and within the upper compartment of the reservoir.

Directly above the conveyor band 1 is a detector member in the form of apair of relatively narrow rollers 125, which together with the conveyor1, the bridge 9 and the drum 8 defines the entrance to the reservoir.Each of the rollers 125 is constructed as a pair of flanged discs, asseen in FIG. 2, clamped together and fixed slightly eccentrically on asleeve 126 which is rotated on a spindle 27 by a Timex belt 28 passingover a sprocket 29. The belt is driven by a sprocket 30 carried by aconstantly rotating drive shaft 31. The spindle 27 is supportedrotatably by a bush 32, FIG. 2, carried by an arm 33 mounted on a sleeve34 which is free to rotate about the drive shaft 31. Thus the rollers125 can swing up and down about the shaft 31. A short arm 35 on thesleeve 34 is connected to one end of a rod 36 so as to cause the rod tomove lengthwise to and fro if the rollers 125 move up and down. Theother end of the rod 36 engages one end of a pivoted element 36a whosemovements are utilised to actuate any suitable means for varying thespeed of the drive roller 21, the drum 8 and the drive roller 18 for theband 12. These means are substantially as described and illustrated inUS. Pat. No. 3,297,138.

The rollers 125 are driven at a speed such that their cigarette-engagingperipheral surfaces move faster than the band 1, e.g. at a speed 1.8times that of the band 1.

A plate 37 extends over part of the drum 8 and between the rollers 125,and a short bridge 38 extends between the plate 37 and the roller 19over which the band 12 passes. A flexible strip 39 is secured beneaththe plate 37 and its free edge bears against the peripheral surfaces ofthe rollers 125.

In operation of the apparatus, cigarettes C are carried by the conveyorband 1 beneath the rollers 125 into the space between the periphery ofthe drum 8 and the plate 37 and strip 39, the bridge 38, and the band12. The rollers 125 rest on the pile of cigarettes moving beneath themand rise or fall according to the cigarette depth at any moment. At thesame time the rollers 125, due to their speed of rotation, positivelyurge the cigarettes forwardly to ensure that the said space is keptfilled with cigarettes and upwardly to urge the cigarettes to packthemselves neatly against the plate 37. It is desirable that thereservoir should at all times be completely filled with cigarettes sothat they are kept in close contact with each other and can therefore bemoved through the reservoir as a more or less compact body, and it isfor this reason that the rollers 125 rotate with a peripheral speed inexcess of the normal feeding speed of the cigarettes, thereby tending toensure that no deficiency of cigarettes can occur at or immediatelybeyond the entrance to the reservoir and that the cigarettes packthemselves against the ceiling of the reservoir, defined at this pointby the plate 37, thus reducing the risk of them crossing or twisting andthereby jamming the flow. The flexible strip 39, by pressing lightlyagainst the cigarettes just leaving the rollers 125, also assists inkeeping them close together.

If the quantity of cigarettes being fed by the band 1 decreases, thecigarette level on the band will fall and the rollers 125 will fallcorrespondingly, likewise if the quantity on the band 1 increases, therollers 125 will rise. As explained above, these up and down movementsof the rollers 125 are utilised to actuate means whereby the speeds ofthe drum 8, and band 12, and the band 20 are increased to allow morecigarettes to be received in the reservoir, or decreased if fewercigarettes are being received.

Any changes in the speed of the band 20 cause the size of the reservoirto be altered in the manner described in the specification referred toabove, back plate or movable wall 147 moving towards and away fromconcave plate or stationary end wall 10 to vary the length of thereservoir and to compensate for the change in volume of cigarettespresent in the reservoir.

Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, these show a modified arrangement at theentrance to the reservoir.

A pair of endless chain conveyors 51 (only one of which is shown)receive cigarettes C from e.g. a number of cigarette-making machines andconvey them towards the right in the figure. The chains, which arespaced apart, carry projections 52 which form pockets to accommodate thecigarettes. The chain are driven by and return about sprockets 53.

Three endless bands 54 (only one of which is seen in the figure) arearranged between and on either side of the two chains 51. These bandspass over rollers 57 and 58 which define their upper run, the rollers 57acting to tension the band, guide roller 58a, and drive wheels 59. Theupper runs of the bands are upwardly inclined in the direction of theirmovement, and intersect the chains 51 so as to lift the cigarettes fromthe chains. They run over a guide plate 62.

It will be seen that the chains 51 and bands 54 in this embodimentreplace the band 1 of FIG. 1.

To the right of the band rollers 58 is a drum 6 8, bridge 69, concaveplate 70, and band 72, which correspond to the drum 8, bridge 9 concaveplate 10, and band 12 of FIG. 1.

Above the bands 54 are two pairs of flanged discs 75 and 76, the discs76 extending partially between the discs 75. The discs 76 are rotatableabout a spindle 77 carried by arms 78 which are mounted for swingingmovement about a spindle 79 on which the discs 75 are rotatable, andwhich is carried by a swingable arm 80. The arm 80 is loosely mountedfor swinging movement about a shaft 81 on which is fixed a drive roller82, which is flanged as shown in FIG. 4. A band 83, of nylon or othersuitable non-stretching material, backed by a narrower band 84, extendsabout the discs and drive roller and is driven by the latter at the samespeed as the chains 51. The narrow backing band 84 fits between flangesof the drive roller 82 and prevents wandering of the composite band.Fixed on a hub 85 of the arm 80 is a short arm 86 connected to one endof a rod 87 so as to cause the rod to move lengthwise to and fro if thearm 80 swings up and down. The other end of the rod 87 engages one endof a pivoted element 88 which is identical with the element 36a in FIG.1.

The discs 75 and 76 and the surrounding band 83, which rests on thecigarettes carried first by the chains 51 and then by the bands 54,correspond to the rollers of FIG. 1.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for feeding cigarettes and other rod-like articlescomprising a reservoir, means for delivering articles to the reservoirand means for discharging articles from the reservoir at a rateindependent of the rate of in-feed of the delivery means, the reservoircomprising a movable floor consisting of a conveyor band, a stationarywall defining one end of the reservoir, and a movable wall which definesthe other end of the reservoir and is movable towards and away from thestationary wall whereby the length of the reservoir is variable, saidarticle-delivery means for feeding articles into the reservoircomprising an entry channel adjacent the stationary end wall of thereservoir at the end of the reservoir remote from the movable wall.

2. Apparatus for feeding cigarettes and other rod-like articlescomprising a reservoir, means for delivering articles into thereservoir, and means for delivering articles from the reservoir, thereservoir comprising conveyor means for supporting and moving thearticles in the reservoir, means defining a stationary end of the saidreservoir and including a stationary end wall, a movable wall whichdefines the other end of the reservoir and is movable towards and awayfrom the stationary wall whereby the length of the reservoir isvariable, means defining a reservoir entry channel adjacent to thestationary end of the reservoir and in communication with the said meansfor delivering articles to the reservoir, and means defining a reservoirexit channel adjacent to the stationary end of the reservoir and incommunication with the said means for delivering articles from thereservoir.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 in which the said reservoir entrychannel has an upper wall comprising a member which has one endswingably mounted by means of a stationary horizontal pivot and has itsother end resting on the cigarettes in the entry channel prior to theentry of the cigarettes into the reservoir.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 in which the said upper wall member ofthe entry channel comprises a detector which rises and falls, dependingupon the number of cigarettes in the entry channel, and which isoperatively connected to regulating means for controlling the length ofthe reservoir.

5. Apparatus for feeding cigarettes and other rod-like articlescomprising a reservoir, means for delivering articles into thereservoir, and means for delivering articles from the reservoir, thereservoir having a loopshaped configuration comprising parallel lengthsjoined at one end by a cross link which can move towards and away fromthe other end of the reservoir to vary the length of both of the saidparallel lengths simultaneously, each of said reservoir lengths having amovable floor comprising conveyor means for supporting and movingarticles in the reservoir, said means for delivering articles to thereservoir being in communication with one of the said reservoir lengthsat the end remote from the cross link, and said means for deliveringarticles from the reservoir being in communication with the otherreservoir length also at the end remote from the cross link.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,433,347 3/1969 Molins 198-37X2,745,410 5/1956 Molins 53-59X 3,297,138 1/1967 McCombie 198-84 FOREIGNPATENTS 549,877 12/1942 Great Britain 198-37 EDWARD SROKA, PrimaryExaminer US. Cl. X.R. 198-76, 167

